ShakyCraftsman

Hey all Small update. I have the hood pivots mounted to the frame. I also temporarily mounted the bull bar (Roo bar). here's a overall of the truck. this view shows the Roo bar temporarily mounted to the bumper. closer view from the front of the Roo bar. this view shows the hood in the up position. I think this is my final version of the mural for the back of the sleeper. Please, leave comments so I know what you guys think. Ron G

Hey all I kinda redid the mural for the back of the sleeper. What do you think? I tried to make him look a little more like "UnderDog", except as a bulldog. I did some work on the sleeper. I made a close closet with a lower drawer out of some 0.04 plastic sheet. I also made a lower support for the bed. this view shows the bed and the closet. this top down view shows the bed and the closet. There will be a refrigerator and cabinet on the opposite side. view looking through the sleeper at the closet and bed. Ron G

Hey all I purchased this kit from Italeri and I'm waiting for it to get here from Italy, it takes for ever because of Covid. this is the kit I'm using to get the engine from. this view shows the sprue with the engine parts on it, yupp it's a E9 Mack! closer view of the engine parts. I'll have to fix the oil pan, the Superliner II had the oil pan sump in the rear. this view shows the frame and suspension parts. closer view of the suspension parts they are a kind of Camelback suspension. this view shows the shock absorbers that I added to the front axle to help with rebound. I also had to modify the rear axles in order to get the Italeri wheels to fit. I had to narrow them some too. top view of the shock absorber and how it mounts. Well that's it for now be back with more updates soon. Please let me know what you think. Ron G

Hey Kromolly No actually its just in there to represent the E9 that will be going in it. I will be getting the engine from the 1/24 Italeri Renault 360 kit, they came with Mack engines. Makes sense since they owned Mack at the time. Ron G

Hey all I did some work on the Mack Superliner cab interior. I took the left hand drive dash from the Western Star and cut it up to fit in the Mack. Yeah I know it's not prototypical but it's what I had to work with. It's not as wide and way deeper then the original dash for the Mack, but after some plastic magic...lol it fits great. this view shows the Mack interior with the driver figure that I kit bashed together. I also removed the arm rests from the two seats snd added them to the driver's seat in the down position, the passenger will not have them. This was not easily done, I had to cut the boots off of one set of legs in order to add them to the seated set of legs, after I removed the feet with the sandals off of those. I put the torso with the cowboy hat onto these, then I added the arms from the seated figure to the final figure. After this I had to use a soldering iron to heat the arms and legs to bend them into position...wheh! this view shows the driver figure in the driving position. closer view of the driver. He actually looks a little like me...lol this view shows that his hands are on the steering wheel. Since I took this picture I've switched out the steering wheel for a smaller diameter two spoke one. this view shows that he just barely fits in the cab. I had to lower the seat mechanism and make a depression in the roof interior panel to make this work. this view from the rear shows that his foot sits on the clutch pedal. this view shows that his right foot sits on the brake snd fuel pedals. I got this kit to use for modifying the Superliner II's frame into a correct Mack frame. As most of you know the Italeri Mack Superliner kit isn't really a Mack, almost, it does resemble one but it is not accurate. First the frame, suspension, interior peices and even the engine (Cummins NTC-400), although you could get a Cummins in a Mack are from there Freightliner kits. This causes the cab to be out of proportions, to wide, in order to fit there Freightliner interior floor dimensions. I'm not going to narrow my cab, like a few others on here have done. Since I'm making mine a Australian truck it will have the large external air cleaners with the raised snorkels, common to Australian trucks. I believe that this will mask the fact that the cab is to wide, to a degree. this top view shows the frame and suspension from the AMT Mack DM800 kit. I cut it just a little rear of were the frame narrows at the rear behind the cab and spliced in a section from the Superliners kit frame to give me a 230.0" W.B. this view of the bottom of the frame shows the front and rear suspensions. this view shows the rear Camelback suspension pivot bracket and the rods that attach to the front and rear drive axles. this view shows the front suspension. I had to kind of narrow this to fit the front axle that I made from part of the Superliner front axle and from the DM800 front axle. this view shows the front axle that I kit bashed into a Mack front axle I widened it a scale 4". I think it came out ok. this view shows the DM800 kits ENDT-865 Maxidyne engine. It's just in there for a representation of the Mack E9 that will be going in this build. top view of the Maxidyne engine sitting in the frame. I plane on using the moter/trans mounts from this on the E9. top view of the rear camelback suspension installed in the frame. view of the rear suspension from the side. this view shows what the truck will eventually look like all together. this view shows the cab/hood sitting on the frame. I still have to make the pivot points for tge hood, and the bumper/bullbar mount (Roo bar to you Aussie's) this view shows the modifications I made to the hood to fit the large Aussie air cleaners. this view is of the Mack ENDT-865. Ron G

Hey all I posted some of this in another post but didn't get much response so I decided to give it it's own post. I bought a 1/24 Italeri Mack Superliner kit and the 1/24 truck accessories kit. The Aussie parts from the 1/24 Italeri Western Star (that I already have) will be going on this. this is the basic kit, there will be alot of changes made to it to make it into a Aussie road train hauler! this view shows the truck accessories kit. I purchased this to get the rear Mack 6 spoke wheels for the Mack Superliner, I had to customize them to make them work. this view shows the Mack E9 that I'm adding to the Mack. I I bought a bunch of stuff from Auslowe model trucks, shh!!!...don't tell the wife, I don't want to be the next Bobbet!...lol I also got a 13/18 speed Mack transmission to go with it. This is the mural I'm going to be hand painting on the back of the sleeper. I'm not sure about the name, I have to think about it. this is the 1/24 Italeri kit I'm getting all of the Australian parts from. this view shows the front 385/65 R22.5 tires that I got from the 1/24 Italeri European wheels and tyres kit. I modified the Mack wheels from the Australian truck kit. I had to widen them to get the tires to fit. this view shows the wheels and tires (315/70 R22.5) from the 1/24 European wheels and tyres kit. I had to add a extra inner wheel half ring to the outside of the Mack rear wheel to widen it and get these tires to fit. Ron G

Hey all I found a picture on the internet of a Mack camelback suspension with a shock going from the front axle at an angle rearward to the front mounting bracket. It looked like this, so I copied it. this view shows the front shock and how it attaches to the axle and frame. this view from the top shows a little better how the shock mounts. Ron G

Hey all Did some more work on the Superliner. I have the engine that came in the MPC Mack DM800 put together. It's a Maxidyne ENDT-865 V8. They were, from what I understand a pretty good engine. Thay were the predecessor to the Mack E9 V8. It has a 5 or 6 speed transmission, I'm not really sure. this view shows the cab & hood along with the sleeper, fuel tanks and the wheels/tires that will go on this build. this view shows a top view of the Mack camelback suspension & Mack drive axles. side view of the Camelback suspension. this view shows the Mack ENDT-865 from the MPC DM800 kit. Its about the same size as the E9 so I'm using it for fit purposes. top down view of the ENDT-865. this is a picture of the real thing. It's painted in Mack gold. Well that's it for now be back soon. Ron G

Wild build man, wild!!!!!?

Hey all I got a MPC 1/25 Mack DM800 for some parts to use on my Aussie Mack Superliner build. I spliced the front and rear sections of the DM800 frame with a section out of the Italeri 1/24 Mack Superliner frame to make a proper Superliner Ii frame that's a 232" W.B. I modified the front axle from the Superliner kit along with a piece from the DM800 front axle and got a 4" (scale) wider drop center Mack axle, kind of. It's not perfect but it's good enough for me. Here are some pictures. this view shows the top of the completed frame. this view is of the bottom of the frame. close up view of the front of the frame and front suspension. close up view of the rear of the frame and the support pivot bracket for the camel back rear suspension this view shows the modified front axle. I had to modify the DM800 front springs to get them in the correct position for a Superliner II frame. this view shows the cab and hood sitting on the frame. this view shows the modifications I had to make to the hood to fit the external Aussie air cleaners. They are from the Western Star Australian truck kit by Italeri. Well that's it for now be back soon with more updates. Ron G

Great looking Mack! Mr. Mopar-D. I have one coming in the mail, but mine is going to help build my Aussie Mack Superliner. Ron G

Now that's a proper road train hauler Mate! Great idea for using the Mack E9 V8 from the Renault ( I'm using one in my Superliner build) I see some Auslowe parts in there, nice I hope mine turns out as nice. Ron G

Hey Jurgen Nice, a Michigan gravel train, sweet Ron G

Hey Hessel Now all you need is 3 to 4 side dump trailers and you would have one sweet road train Ron G

Hey K100 If you start another one you can get a mack E9 V8 and Camelback suspension from one of tge 1/24 scale Italeri Renault 360 kits, they have Mack E9's in them. Ron G

Hey all I did a little more work on the Peterbilt 378 Tri-drive. I'm still waiting on parts for the 6 axle trailer. this view shows the Pete with the correct cab on it. It has 385/65R22.5 tires from the Italeri trailer tyre kit on the front for floats. I put my driver figure in there for perspective. this view shows the front floats turned to the right. this view shows the Tri-drive set up. And the stretched fifth wheel plate. this view shows the valve stems I added to the inner and outer rims, I still need to do the rest of the rears and the fronts too. this view shows the front floats a little better, also the Cummins NTC-400 I'm using instead of the kit supplied Detroit series 60. another view of the Cummins NTC-400. this view shows the intake air cleaner pipe in place. this view shows the modified (from the Detroit series 60) intercooler pipes. The radiator is the Cummins NTC-400 radiator from the Western Star kit. Well that's it for now be back with more soon Ron G

My bad didn't see the link Ron G

Hey JimmyG Sounds like a proper project. Were are you getting your float tires from? I have a 3D resin printer that I can print rubber tires on, plus I have some Bridgestone L375 445/65R22.5 front floats and Bridgestone M710 285/75R22.5 drive tires model up on Cad. Actually I have a complete Peterbilt 359 heavy haul tractor with lift axle, based off of the 1/25 Revell Peterbilt "Cando" wrecker. So any parts you might need I might be able to print them for you. Drop me a PM and we can talk price. I modeled them on Unigraphics NX16 full size, so I can print them in any scale, as long as the part/parts fit in the printers print envelope. Check out my Peterbilt 359 Heavy haul tractor build and you can see what the tires and model look like. Ron G

Hey yh70 That's from Facebook, I don't do Facebook! But I found them online. Thanks Ron G

Hey everybody Does anyone make a 1/24 scale Australian style side dump trailer? I need (4) of them for a build I'm working on. Thanks Ron G

Is that gold or samon red? And what trans are you using? Ron G

Hey Force I was strictly going by the photos of it on line, but its good to know. Can you post some pictures of it, please. Ron G

Hey Force Yeah I know I bought one of there's along with their 13/18 spd. Transmission, although there engine doesn't look like it comes with the turbos, so I bought the Berliet R352ch/Renault R360 kit# 3902. Ron G

Hey guys I just purchased this for parts on the Mack Superliner build. I just found out after some deep research on the net that Renault used Mack E9 V8's in there trucks and French military vehicles. Makes sense since they owned Mack at the time. this view shows the sprue from the 3902 kit. As you can see, poorly I admit, heres my Mack E9 engine, not sure about the trans, I don't know what they used. closer view of the engine block and heads. Mack also collaborated with Scania on there V8 engines, but they use individual cylinder heads (8 total heads) where Renault/Mack have twin heads (4 total heads). this view shows that they used Mack suspension, or one almost identical to it. closer view of the suspension. So I also have a more accurate rear and possible front suspension for the Aussie Mack Superliner. That's it for now be back soon with more. Ron G

I just realized I have the fuel, brake and the clutch pedels bass ackwords...Opps! Easy fix though. Ron G